Arctic submarine communication buoys are known devices designed for use by submarines that are to be deployed in the ice capped Arctic regions. In operation such type of buoy is released from the submarine, is buoyed up against the ice cover, bores a passage through the overlying ice to reach the top side, and thereupon releases various equipment carried in the buoy, the payload, above the ice, such as a radio antenna, that permits the submarine to carry on point-to-point radio communications with communication satellites.
Many techniques are known to penetrate the ice pack and form a passage. One kind is the thermochemical type ice penetrator, which is carried by the buoy. In that type ice penetrator, the thermochemical material undergoes an exothermic reaction with the ice and causes the ice to melt. One reactant of such reaction is water, which is at least partially supplied by the ice as it melts. The second reactant, typically, is an alkali metal or an alloy containing an alkali metal, preferably lithium. Those are known devices.
Although thermochemical type penetrators are relevant in a general sense as a component element to the improved buoys presented herein and as background, the details thereof are not necessary to the understanding of the present invention. An excellent source of more detailed background structure to and applications for buoys incorporating such penetrators is found in the patent to Eninger et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,834, granted Mar. 24, 1987, which is assigned to TRW Inc., the assignee of the present application. The entire specification of the Eninger et al patent, for convenience, is incorporated herein by reference.
Modern naval vessels, including submarines, have for some time past been equipped with electronic navigation systems as enables the craft's commander to determine the global position of the craft relative to the global position from the point of departure. Moreover, the recently introduced global positioning system makes use of multiple orbiting satellites to allow one to determine ones global position, latitude, longitude and height as example, with predetermined accuracy using RF signals broadcast from the satellites. With the availability of the foregoing kind of positioning system, the craft's global position may be checked from time to time and the on-board navigation system adjusted, updated, as necessary.
In the open ocean, a submarine is able to erect an antenna with or without surfacing. When the submarine is located under the extensive ice pack of the North or South polar regions, it is often not possible to surface to expose the antenna and the antenna erecting mechanism used in the open ocean appears ineffective in that environment. Inevitably, prior to the present invention, errors as might occur in the electronic navigation system aboard such submarines would accrue during the submarines extended submerged travel under the ice pack. However small those errors may seem in the absolute or commercial sense, cumulatively the errors become unacceptably large to submariners in dark underwater surroundings. The navigational errors could lead to a collision with a charted obstacle and imperil the submarine's crew. The arctic buoys of the present invention allow the navigation systems to avoid that difficulty.
While losses of submarine and crew through equipment failure have been rare, apart from loss in battle during time of war, such losses are not unheard of. The men who share the submarine's berth should have the comfort of knowing that they could be rescued should the submarine fail while submerged. With modern submarine technology permitting extended travel under polar ice, the submariner's normally high morale could be adversly affected in the contemplation of greater personal danger of under ice travel: Should the submarine fail under the ice pack and be unable to surface no one will be able to determine the submarine's whereabouts and mount rescue. The polar ice pack that serves as a perfect hiding place for the submarine could thus also serve as an inescapable trap. The improved buoys of the present invention eliminate those anxieties. In the event of an under-the-ice predicament in which the submarine is disabled, the submariners need no longer be considered unfortunates lost through limitations of technology who must sacrifice their lives.
The technology that cures the foregoing problems offers opportunity for application to ancillary applications, such as surveillance of above-the-ice conditions; an added advantage. While submerged under the ice pack conditions in the environment above the ice pack may be observed.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a new method for updating navigational information on board a submerged submarine without requiring the submarine to surface through the ice and to provide a new buoy design for carrying out such method;
A related object is to provide a novel process to permit disabled submarines trapped below the ice to notify others of its position and invite rescue, as well as to guide potential rescuers to its position and to provide a new and inexpensive buoy design for practicing that method; and
A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel apparatus and method to perform above ice surveillance from aboard a submerged submarine.